Online marketing way forward for Indian SMEs

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the engineering sector marketing their products on the B2B portals has almost doubled to 44,000 in 2011, according to a survey.

"This shows that in volatile market conditions, SME units in the engineering sector have been looking for low cost channels to market themselves," IndiaMART.com Founder and CEO Dinesh Agarwal said. About 25,000 engineering SMEs were marketing their products using the firm's portal in 2010.

The increase in the number of SMEs going online also indicates that the level of internet acceptance has increased remarkably for such businesses, he added. India's engineering sector constitutes 12 per cent of the total economy, the company said. SMEs are exploring new mediums to market their products as the traditional ways of promotion are hurting their business amid rising competition and increasing globalisation.

"Established as well as upcoming entrepreneurs in the engineering sector have put their faith in the internet as it has become a game-changer for them," Agarwal said. There are a number of market players like IndiaPlaza are providing B2B marketing platform in domestic and international markets for SMEs.